President Obama Releases Fiscal 2015 Budget Request to Congress

***LEGISLATIVE ALERT***

President Obama Releases Fiscal 2015 Budget Request to Congress

WASHINGTON— President Obama today unveiled his fiscal 2015 budget request to Congress. The budget proposal calls for approximately $3.9 trillion in federal government funding and fully funds contract support costs at $251 million – a $4 million increase over the fiscal 2014 enacted level.

The president’s budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education is $2.6 billion – a $33.6 million increase above the fiscal 2014 enacted level.

The budget proposes $11.9 billion in discretionary spending for the Department of the Interior; an increase of 2.4 percent above the fiscal 2014 enacted level. The request calls for $7.8 million, an increase of $3.4 million, for the San Juan Conjunctive Use Wells and San Juan River Navajo Irrigation Project Rehabilitation, both part of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.

The budget request includes $395.4 million in total resources for public safety initiatives in Indian Country under the Department of Justice, including $35 million for Indian Country Community Oriented Policing Services grants and $46.1 million for Office of Violence Against Women Indian Country programs.

The request for the Indian Health Service is $4.6 billion. Included in the budget request for IHS is $200 million for Health Care Facilities Construction.

The Housing Improvement Program funding is reduced by $12.6 million.

Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly will provide testimony on the Navajo Nation’s fiscal 2015 budget request before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies in April.